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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27616916">take my hand and we'll abandon this world</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/imnotanironwall/pseuds/imnotanironwall'>imnotanironwall</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Domestic, F/M, Post-Kingdom Hearts III, Pre-Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory, RiKai Week 2020</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 04:54:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,464</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27616916</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/imnotanironwall/pseuds/imnotanironwall</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Kairi sleeps and Riku doesn't. When she wakes up, it's his time to rest, and she wouldn't have it any other way.</p>
<p>[written pre-KH:MoM release]</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kairi/Riku (Kingdom Hearts)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>take my hand and we'll abandon this world</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>She dreams of silver hair and black cloaks, of cages and shores in eternal nights, of chains, binding hearts, binding memories. And she wakes up to a long-forgotten song, the voice familiar, delicate, comforting. There are flowers on the table next to the bed, always different, always fresh, their scent lulling her back to sleep before she can say a word. She dreams of exaggerated mannerisms and an unending ocean, the breeze is cold, </span>
  <em>
    <span>freezing</span>
  </em>
  <span>, and it calls for the rain that never comes. Her chest tightens as a hand covers her face and she opens her eyes to a dark chamber, machines buzzing all around her. White coats, gentle words, the song never echoes again but the smell of flowers is still there. She’s awake.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>What she sees rarely makes any sense. She wonders, sometimes, what’s the point of this, why she keeps doing it. But Riku appears and the dark circles under his eyes mirror hers and she remembers. She sighs. They leave the room together and don’t share a word, she doesn’t comment on the flowers she knows he is bringing every day. There’s tension between them as they roam the streets of Radiant Garden, hanging heavy since the day </span>
  <em>
    <span>he </span>
  </em>
  <span>left. They’re both so helpless. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They walk to a small house, not far from Merlin’s, that looks similar to any other home in town. Riku summons a small key that fits in the palm of his hand from his pocket and opens the lock to the wooden front door; it swings open, hinges creaking with the movement. It’s theirs, for the time being. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kairi immediately collapses on the small couch, as if she hadn’t been laying down for the past week or so. The ceiling is white, untouched, unchanged from the last time she laid in this exact spot. The small layer of dust on the floor of the living-room tells her the house has mostly been inhabited during her time away. It seems Riku spends most of his days (and nights) at Merlin’s when she’s at the castle, though they haven’t talked about it much.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How many days? Until you go back, I mean,” Riku asks, his face turned away from her as he sets a kettle on the stove. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Three. They’re giving me until,” she turns her eyes toward the calendar that hangs precariously on the wall next to a small window. “Monday. They have some tests to run over the weekend.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The boy hmms, before disappearing out of her sight deeper into the kitchen. She hears some clattering but doesn’t pay it any mind. Instead, she starts humming that song, the one from her dreams, but the lyrics escape her. They’re on the tip of her tongue, she knows, </span>
  <em>
    <span>she knows</span>
  </em>
  <span>, but the mist that clouds her memories hasn’t dissipated. She stops when Riku comes back with a steaming cup of herbal tea and a plate of food, biscuits and small sandwiches. He settles next to her on the couch as she sits up, their shoulders touching. She takes the plate out of his hand and puts it on the armrest to her side, then the mug finds her fingers. She immediately takes a sip, her throat suddenly dry. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The weight against her shoulder grows heavier after a few minutes. She doesn’t need to steal a glance to know Riku has fallen asleep, maybe for the first time in days. She takes another sip from her mug and gulps down one of the bit-size sandwiches, never moving her right arm. The sun casts a more orange light in the room as it starts setting. It’s always like this. She comes home, he makes her food, and he falls asleep against her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The touch was… uncomfortable, the first few times. She hadn’t felt the warmth of another this closely in a while, never going farther than holding hands or a quick hug. She doesn’t remember the last time she actively cuddled with someone, even in her youth. She had never been one for extended touch. She had grown to shy away from the vulnerability that intimacy exposes oneself to. On the other hand, Riku completely let his guard down as he slept on the couch, his left side entirely pressed against her, his head falling on her shoulder. He slept for hours, until the morning lights shone through the windows of the kitchen and into his face. He always apologized, the tip of his ears red, but the peace that emanated from him and the dark circles under his eyes digging a little less into his skin were always worth the long hours of silence and stillness. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She grew to expect those moments, even. They didn’t need to talk, though they rarely did these days anyway. There wasn’t a reason to, she could read his worries and he could see her despair. She appreciated the quiet of the night and the heat of his body against hers. Sometimes, when the clock rang twice, and she knew he was definitely out cold, she’d finally rest her empty mug onto the armrest and reach for Riku’s hand. She’d cup it in hers, her thumb rubbing soothing circles into his skin (for who, she could never really tell) and she’d sigh, her eyes never leaving the shadows cast by the trees outside in the garden. These moments were hers and hers only, and she learned to cherish them. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After all, this will all stop one day. And they’ll go back to how things were, how things should be, how things are expected to be. The thought shouldn’t hurt her as much as it does. She shrugs it off and drinks the last of her tea before it runs cold. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Riku is sleeping soundly next to her and the streets are growing silent with each minute. The shadows move in the corner of her eyes but she focuses on the small biscuits that continuously disappear down her throat until the plate is empty left for crumbs. Her dreams are hazy, edging between recollections of past events and episodes that have yet to happen; they have given her nightmares once her eyes have opened and reality has caught up to her. She doesn’t trust the shadows anymore, but she chooses not to worry over them for the time being. </span>
  <em>
    <span>She’s safe here</span>
  </em>
  <span>, she repeats in her head until they too settle for the night.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She allows herself to not think, staring into the void for hours until finally, the clock strikes two.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Ding, Ding</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She slowly lifts her arm and leaves the mug, now cold and empty, on the armrest; her fingers are slightly numb after not moving for so long, so she stretches them, before turning her attention away to the boy next to her, looking for his hand. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Instead, though, Riku shifts - unnaturally so. He stirs and moves and rolls on his side, and eventually his hand reaches for Kairi’s before she can react. His nose nestles against her neck, cautiously, not too close. She stays quiet, frozen in place. Her eyes are wide. Maybe she forgets to breathe, even, until Riku squeezes her hand and his thumb finds hers, rubs it slightly before he sighs peacefully. She exhales.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Why two?” He asks, voice low and groggy. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She shudders, her instinct of fight or flight kicking in. Her heart hammers in her ears and for a moment she feels she might explode, out of embarrassment, out of fear. Riku’s grip is almost non-existent, she could leave if she wanted to.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She doesn’t.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Why not two?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He chuckles, and it’s light, serene, as if he has forgotten all his worries for a second. And she thinks he might have, still half-asleep. She envies the sound and desires more of it, wants to be the only one to ever hear it. She’d reprimand herself if she cared, but she doesn’t, not anymore, she’ll be selfish all she wants. So she indulges herself instead, and she shifts slightly, nuzzling his hair and </span>
  <em>
    <span>finally </span>
  </em>
  <span>closing her eyes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Fair.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She inhales. Her heart picks up once more, more pleasantly this time. She exhales. Her thumb finds Riku’s skin and rubs soothing circles onto it (this time she knows she’s doing it to ground herself). </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Will you come to the market with me tomorrow?” He asks.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A pause. “Would you sing that song again for me, please?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She vaguely remembers those same words coming out of her own mouth, as she laid her head on warm laps and played with purple fabric. The lyrics come back to her momentarily, in a flash of grey hair and blue eyes and wrinkled hands. The memory comforts her, so she smiles. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And she hums, the melody lulling them both to sleep, in rhythm with the beats of their hearts.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Canon won't give me any RiKai intimacy, so I will write it myself. Happy RiKai day, y'all! I hope you enjoyed KH:MoM for those who played it, I found the game quite enjoyable, I love rhythm games. </p>
<p>
  <a href="https://twitter.com/imnotanironwall">twitter</a>
</p></blockquote></div></div>
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